Posts Tagged ‘Institute of Jainology’

The Sunday, Times of India published an article about JAINpedia on 12th October 2014. This is not the first the Times of India group has written about JAINpedia and the work of the Institute, and we are grateful for their exposure. We hope this encourages other publications to write about this valuable website.

The article talks about the collections of Jain manuscripts held in UK institutions, how some of them were obtained and their importance and relevance to the Jain community now. The value of JAINpedia lies in the fact that these manuscripts can be viewed in high resolution, almost as if they were in front of you, from anywhere in the world, and without risk of damaging any fragile ones. In addition the contextual information and the sister Learn Jainism site, complement and increase the utilization of the site. (more…)

The society was the first British organization dedicated to the study of Asia, and played a key role in encouraging an exchange and transfer of cultural understanding. It is only appropriate that we add to the JAINpedia website with some of the collection from the RAS too.

The RAS in partnership with the Jiv Daya Foundation will be conserving and digitizing 3 Jain artefacts to put on the JAINpedia website, a meditation diagram on cloth dating, from the mid-15th century, a Jain map of the universe on cloth (c.1816) and a paper manuscript dated 1404 of the story of Kalaka and part of the Kalpasutra. These 3 artefacts, will also be described and contextualized in the same manner as the current digitized artefacts on JAINpedia, making them more accessible to a wider audience.

The meditation diagram known as a suri-mantra-pata is believed by Professor Nalini Balbir, to be the only one of its type in a European collection; full details of the artefacts, can be found on the RAS blog. The artefacts, are expected to be digitized and uploaded to JAINpedia by the end of June 2013, and we will keep you updated of the progress.

Once again, JAINpedia celebrated Diwali at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London this year. The day began with an entrance by 80 people from Leicester, organised by Kalpit Doshi from the Jain Centre, Leicester. Over 2000 people were recorded to have attended the event, which had a fun-filled programme throughout the day.

Activities included a giant snakes and ladders game, with accompanying song and dance, and some enjoyable ‘shake, shake shake’ moves. Little members of the audience were the playing pieces and rolled the giant die to achieve the position of ‘moksha’ or ‘liberation’ on the giant board.

The Institute of Jainology’s nineth annual Ahimsa Day commemoration at the House of Commons, held on 12th October 2011 was a tremendous success. This annual event, sponsored by the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative ‘Friends of India’ groups, was attended by MPs, Ministers, Lords and the Jain community amongst others. (more…)

Yet another year of Ahimsa Day at the House of Commons and we look forward to the announcement of the winner of the Ahimsa Award this year.
Last year’s winner, Nalini Balbir a renown Indologist and scholar (more…)

A reminder to everyone, that to celebrate the upcoming Paryushana Festival, the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, London are having a series of events and activities at the museum on Sunday, 21st August (more…)

The Oshwal Association of the UK organised a large ‘mela’ on Sunday, 24th July with a funfair, trade stalls, vegan food and games galore, it was an eventful day out for all who attended.

An estimated 6000 people attended the event, with many coming in to see us at the colourful JAINpedia stall. Raising awareness of the commendable project was one of our objectives, and achieved substantially, with hundreds signing up for the future JAINpedia e-newsletter.

The Institute of Jainology and Jainpedia team talk to event attendees about the Jainpedia project at the Oshwal ‘Mela’